MML Publishes “How To” Guide for AFM-Based Nanomechanics

MML recently published a book chapter on making quantitative nanomechanical measurements using atomic force microscopy (AFM). This practical user’s guide is based on several years of experience in the development and demonstration of contact resonance force microscopy (CR-FM), an emerging tool that provides information about mechanical properties of materials on the nanoscale. An extension of atomic force microscopy, CR-FM is rapidly being adopted by research groups worldwide to obtain nanomechanical information in diverse applications such as piezoelectric devices and nanocomposites. However, accurate and reliable CR-FM measurements require the simultaneous optimization of a large number of interacting experimental parameters.

The guide describes the basic physical principles of CR-FM, and their use in making informed choices about experimental parameters and operating conditions. Experimental data and the results of theoretical models are provided as specific examples, and ideas for future work are discussed, including ways to simplify the measurement process or improve measurement accuracy. The guide enables readers not only to perform their own CR-FM measurements, but also to optimize experimental conditions for a given material system. Through its use, it is hoped that the guide will encourage more researchers to extend the CR-FM technique to an ever-wider range of applications for the nanoscale characterization of materials.